Setting up a planted tank; some newbie questions.

Hi all.

I regard myself as a "newbie" - even though I've kept fish for roughly 20 years. There always seem to be people that know so much more. I like to keep quiet and bask in their wisdom...

I stopped keeping fish after losing a Cigar Shark (Leptobarbus hoevenii) after keeping it happy for 16 years - the fish jumped and got stuck in between the glass lid and the wooden top. Anyway, after a 5 year break, I've decided to try again and start a planted tank with angels as the main fish.

I've got decent lighting and good substrate (Tetra Substrate Complete and some ordinary gravel) for the 200 litre tank I am planning.

I have some questions though:

(1) I am really struggling to get a LFS that sells good quality plants (and variety)! I find it almost impossible to get moss! Any really good, well priced stores in the Westrand area?

(2) I am struggling to get a nice centre piece. I am considering a nice piece of driftwood, but again variety makes it difficult to find a good piece. Any recommendations?

(3) I have a small pond with gold fish. Can I use this for cycling? I am considering hooking up the external filter to the pond to pick up some good bacteria - will this work? ...or is this a bad idea?

Nice to be here... this is my first post!

 

Welcome back Sparky.

BetterWeather - for all your plants. Alternatively, just ask the guys what you need. I am sure someone will have some for you.

Google planted tank inspiration. Lots of cool ideas out there.

 

A PVC pipe cut in half with aluminium tape works pretty well too (for a DIY reflector, that is).

 

Your pond potentially has lots of unwanted parasites. Definitely don't transfer anything from there. You can use an excellent product by Seachem called Stability. You basically add the nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria from a bottle.

oh... Welcome to TASA!

 

You can also get a good selection of plants and all equipment / fertilizers @ Lifestyle... (They have a couple of nice planted display tanks).

 

Oh that's close by! I'll definitely go try them out. @Broder: Thanks for that... I'll cycle my tank the traditional way.

 

I also had the idea of using my pond to filter water and adding water volume to the tank but
1. Parasites in ponds
2. Just extra water too heat up,

so I'll skip the idea of using your pond, just setup a proper filtering system and you should be sorted.

For plants betterwheather is always a good call. Although his plants is propagated emirsed you can safely place them in our tank and they will grow. Some plants won't look the same but will adapt and change to the form he gives as a sample.

Or ask around on the forum for a specific plant you looking for there's always somebody that can help you out with something. I've got Christmass moss if you looking for some. I took out some crypts to give to my cousin so have nothing at the moment. Send me a pm then I have your details if I take some out again.

What types of light you got?

what type of fertilizer you planning on?

 

Hi Tetra

Thank you for the feedback! I am really happy I joined this forum!

I have already been to the betterweather website and will get all my plants from them. Quite reasonably priced as well! I am DEFINITELY interested in the Christmas moss you have. Let me know if you take some out again and I will arrange to get it picked up.

In terms of light, I've bough a full spectrum white and a pink, Dymax T8. 60 watts in total. I'll have to experiment to see if it works well.

Fertilizer? Well... haven't given that much thought yet. I have an empty tank that needs to be cleaned out, lights to install, substrate to put in... so Fertiliser is not on the list yet Do you have recommendations?

 

Try the scape range of fertilizers, value for money... Also available from betterweather

 

Ive tried out Tetra's product the tablets and fluid and had fear results. Then I switched over to Seachem products and I've had good results. I just don't dose my tank the suggested amount but only once a week since having to add according to the suggest dosage its going to cost me a fortune. My tank with sump is 620 liters. I also stick to low-medium tech plant that doesn't need to much care to keep it alive and flourishing.

You also get a DIY and potting soil setup, much cheaper but they have there own things you need to attend to. I will post some links on websites I came across that explains how to go about. Mixture ratio and so on. If you search DIY substrate and DIY plant fertilizer on the site you will also get a few threads of people that tried it out. Some had great success others only trouble.Algae booms, to high NO2 and NO3 or big drop in pH.

I think on the plated forum the top 2 threads is all examples of low-med tech plants and high tech plants. Go through them to see witch is the easier plants to start off with. Once you get the results you looking for get a plant that needs alittle more attention then other and take it from there.

Later try to invest in CO2 system. You can use Seachem Excel that is equivalent to a CO2 system but on the long run it works out more expensive.

Once you got your tank up and running you have to post some pics. Good luck

send me a pm for the xmas moss.

 

Search planted tanks picture on google and you'll see a few amazing tanks and get ideas how to setup a tank.

 

here is a previous thread of mine.

A few pictures of beautiful planted tanks

Beautiful plant setup

I hope the links will work

 

welcome to TASA

 

And fully South African, so good to support..